New advocacy materials coming soon

June 30th, 2009

We’re working on new advocacy materials for ALIA members post-Summit and of course we wanted to see what other organisations were doing on this front. Searching the web, we’ve found lots of really great advocacy ideas and resources, ranging from heavy-duty political lobbying, through to lively consumer campaigns.

Here are a few that caught our eye:

Illinois Library Association has a 16-page document devoted to library advocacy (similar in style to the new one we’re putting together). We especially liked the section about handling tough questions – www.ila.org.

The American Library Association (www.ala.org) has a whole section on issues and advocacy, including a toolkit for advocating in a tough economy, and a link to its own public-facing website – www.ilovelibraries.org.

For school libraries, we found www.crbsls.org/slsa/, the School Library Systems of New York State website, which features the Sunflower Avalanche campaign – fun logo with a serious message attached.

From the Canadian Library Association, there’s Library Advocacy Now! www.cla.ca/divisions/capl/advocacy/, a training program for public library staff and trustees.

And www.youtube.com is a source of inspirational stories and examples of library advocacy. Keeping Your Community Connected is two years old, but still worth a look, Wow-That’s a Library starts off slowly, but warms up about halfway through, and Advocacy Keeping Libraries Open Part II, linked with www.savequeenslibrary.org is a good one to bear in mind if the unthinkable happens and one of your libraries comes under threat of closure.

OCLC’s site www.oclc.org/reports/funding/default.htm has a solid document entitled From Awareness to Funding: A Study of Library Support in America, exploring attitudes and perceptions about library funding. The company used the research to get US$5 million from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to run a public awareness campaign, which is an admirable example of turning research into action.

The campaign is called Geek the Library www.geekthelibrary.org  and it’s a fantastic site, Web 2.0 at its best.

The new ALIA advocacy materials are a work in progress, but should be up on the website in a matter of weeks. Meanwhile, the Little Book of Public Libraries has gone to press and will be arriving in the ALIA office on 13 July, ready for the Public Libraries Summit. We’ve already had requests for 20,000 copies but it’s not too late to place an order – just go to the Summit home page on this site and download the order form.

Sue McKerracher
ALIA project officer

Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

Summit Submissions and why you should read them!

June 3rd, 2009

As the time draws nearer to the Public Libraries Summit, why not check out what will be discussed by reading the Submissions made by your colleagues and other interested parties!

The submissions are on many varied topics such as Early childhood education and literacy, the development of closer ties between public libraries and healthcare professionals, the role public libraries play in society, and public libraries and access to electronic databases and information online.

There are also regional submissions from NSW, Vic, Qld, WA and SA

One of my favourite submissions is from Jenn Martin about A Bibliotherapy Partnership between Public Libraries and Health Services. I had heard of ‘Books on prescription’ before and thought “What a great idea!” but then never got around to implementing it! Reading Jenn’s submission reiterated to me the importance of public libraries collaborating with other government and community organisations to promote the ideals that all public libraries stand for… namely “social inclusion, literacy, [and] life-long learning”. We all know that there are some great health related resources in our libraries to help people, but do our patrons? Do doctors and hospitals and their patients know? Developing a strong Bibliotherapy partnership and program, I believe, will help fill this information gap!

All the submissions make for very interesting reading! So check them out. And don’t forget to register the points in the ‘professional reading’ category for the ALIA PD Scheme.

Kathryn Cass

ALIA Public Libraries Advisory Committee Member

Posted in ALIA, Public Library Ambassadors, Summit Information | No Comments »

Library Ambassador’s First “Performance”

May 28th, 2009

27 May dawned  cool and drizzly in Cowra, NSW but that didn’t dampen the spirits of of 80 enthusiastic pre-schoolers who had made the long trip from two of the local child care centres to participate in National Simultaneous Storytime. As they patiently awaited the guest reader for the day- newly appointed Library Ambassador, Bruce Miller, they were entertained by silly sheep stories like Steve Smallmanns The lamb who came to Dinner and Mem Fox’s Where is the green Sheep ? Obviously favourites, the crowd wriggled and chattered until finally Bruce emerged to read Pete the Sheep by Jackie French and illustrated by Bruce Whatley.

Many thanks must go to the teachers who bravely read to such a big gathering and to Bruce for wearing his farmer’s hat and putting on some amazing facial expressions.

Jan Richards

ALIA President

Posted in National Simultaneous Storytime, Public Library Ambassadors | No Comments »

Our first two Public Library Ambassadors

May 13th, 2009

East Gippsland and Cowra libraries, in Victoria and New South Wales, are setting the pace, with the announcement this week of their public library ambassadors.
East Gippsland went for local author Barry Heard, who is already a regular in the Bairnsdale library. Cowra library asked Councillor Brucer Miller, an active member of the local council and president of the Local Government and Shires Association of NSW.
That’s one of the great things about this campaign - it will link libraries with well known, well respected individuals from many different walks of life.  We are also pursuing sports people, commentators and TV personalities - some of whom are naturally aligned with libraries.  Others will be unexpected champions, which is all to the good when it comes to attracting media attention.

For more information about the first public library ambassadors, click through to Ambassadors Live!

View press release http://www.alia.org.au/media.room/2009.05.18.html

Tags: ,
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

Public Libraries - the heart of the “cultural” community!

May 7th, 2009

We’re always talking about how public libraries add value to their communities – it’s one of the foundation stones of the forthcoming ALIA Public Libraries Summit. If we needed further evidence of this we need go no further than the results of the 2009 NSW Cultural Awards  which were presented last Friday. Public libraries shone brightly with their innovative and engaging projects.

Congratulations to Randwick City Library Service whose winning project Migrant’s Story provided a unique opportunity for children and older migrants to interact, form lasting relationships and experience life from another’s point of view.

The uplifting stories were collated into a book which was launched by Peter Garrett AM, Member for Kingsford Smith and Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Arts. The stories that the young participants have created has provided a lasting record of multicultural history for generations to come.

Kogarah Library and Cultural Services’ highly commended Connecting Community and Culture project provided the opportunity to connect people from differing age groups, socio-economic and cultural backgrounds through planned community and cultural events, workshops and exhibitions undertaken throughout 2008, The cultural programs bought a new element to traditional Library services and positioned the Library as a cultural hub.

Hurstville City Library, Museum & Gallery was also highly commended for their collaborative approach to inspiring events, innovative exhibitions, and technological tools to engage their diverse communities. The  Chinese community was celebrated in Kung Hei Fat Choy, a photographic exhibition and collection display; Indigenous artists worked with Hurstville City Library, Museum & Gallery in the extremely popular Annette Webb and Friends exhibition; while schools, children/families participated in Show Offs! an exhibition of artworks from three special schools.

Well done to all 3 libraries - I hope you celebrated appropriately!

Jan Richards

ALIA Vice-President

 

 

Tags: ,
Posted in Summit Information | No Comments »

Autograph books at the ready

April 1st, 2009

The Library Ambassador program is picking up pace, with pilot projects underway around Australia. We have a couple of gaps in the Northern Territory and Tasmania, so if anyone from these parts would like to participate, please get in touch (sue.mckerracher@alia.org.au). 

The pilots include State-wide initiatives, for example LocLib, on behalf of the whole of Western Australia,  through to small rural branch libraries.  However, the size of the library service need in no way temper its ambition.  Sporting heroes, media personalities, top authors and film stars all feature on libraries’ wish-lists and often with good reason.   Why do autograph hunters hang around outside smart restaurants in the cold, when they could sit in a warm library, curled up with a good book, waiting for their favourite star of stage and screen to appear with their kids for the storytime session?

Of course, it’s one thing to send out the invitation to potential Library Ambassadors and another for them to say ‘yes’, but we’re confident that we will have a few famous faces in place in time for the Public Libraries Summit.

We will be updating the ambassador page of the website on a regular basis, so if you are doing your own thing outside the pilot projects, please let us know and we will add your details.

Sue McKerracher, project officer, Library Ambassador program

Tags:
Posted in Public Library Ambassadors | No Comments »

Today was to be the day !

March 26th, 2009

Well,  it was to be today  - the ALIA Public Libraries Summit that is.

I have been in nearly daily contact with Senator Stephens’ office over the past couple, of weeks working with the staff there on confirming another suitable date for July.    As their event planning does not yet quite extend into July - we will have to wait a little longer for the new date.

In the meantime, there is still more news on Summit activities  :

Sue McKerrecher  (Ambassador Project Officer) has been working with libraries on getting their Ambassador program off the ground.  This hands-on support seems to be assisting, and ALIA has been pleased to offer this to public libraries.

Submissions have all been very interesting reading and PLAC, Board members and staff are now putting together the themes into further documents as preparation for the Summit.   If you would like to make any comments on any of the submissions, please email the ALIA Public Libraries Summit Project Officer.

The Public Library Associations have met via teleconference early March and will be meeting face-to-face in Parkes in late June just prior to the Public Libraries New South Wales - Country Symposium.

We are still working hard in the background on documents and other initiatives  - more news on the Blog and website over the coming weeks.

Sue Hutley,  ALIA Executive Director

Posted in Public Library Ambassadors, Summit Information | No Comments »

March 11th, 2009

Last week I felt a little like to mother of the bride! The invitations had been sent, the venue had been booked, we’d decided on catering and seating plans, and some fabulous gifts  (read submissions) were pouring in. Unfortunately the people we really  wanted to be there were reluctantly unable to come at this time. It was a bit like a wedding without the bridal party.

So after a good deal of consultation we decided to postpone, a decision that’s been met with understanding and support. We hope to be able to confirm the new date in the next few days but in the interim please focus on how you can be part of this momentous event.

You can do this in a number of ways. The later date means we’re still accepting submissions so if you’d been considering writing one but time had gotten the better of you don’t despair! We’ll be putting the ones that we’ve received up on the website in the next week and this may give you feed for thought.

I’d also encourage you to become involved in the Ambassador Program. More information and suggestions will also be forthcoming on this in the next week so keep checking back.

Finally do talk about the Summit and what it might mean at a local level. I prepared a report for my own Library Committee last week and they were keen to be involved through the Ambassador Program and to be kept informed (in fact one Councillor declared we needed more money in the budget to be able to promote our Ambassador, what a star!!!).  Use this as an opportunity to position your own library in the minds of decision makers while working towards a national goal.

Best wishes

Jan Richards

ALIA Vice President

Posted in Public Library Ambassadors, Summit Information, Uncategorized | No Comments »

How summits work

February 17th, 2009

For those of you interested in how summits work, the obvious source of information is my Frontline column in last July’s Incite. I wrote about the Education and Workforce Summit which we held in March 2008. For that summit about 60 people, almost all from libraries, assembled at the State Library of Victoria.

The Public Libraries Summit is like that summit in one way - not everyone can go.  All summits are selective by their nature.

The Public Libraries Summit is also different because it is definitely NOT about librarians talking to each other. As Jan Richards put it in yesterday’s blog post,  this summit is planned as “the seed of an ongoing conversation with the Federal Government and other partners.” This is not a summit to get our own act together, it is a summit for building bridges with government.

This is a very good time to talk to governments, Commonwealth, state and local. Because there has been a change of at the top, there is a stronger possibility of new thinking and new agendas. The summit is to put public libraries on the agenda of government, Commonwealth, state and local.

You can help. We need everyone’s ideas. You can put your ideas by writing submissions and proposals. There is information on how to do this here. As I suggested, this is a time for new thinking and new ideas, and above all for communicating them to governments. Soon, please - the deadline is 27 February.
                                                      Derek Whitehead,  ALIA President

Posted in Summit Information | No Comments »

Love goes both ways

February 16th, 2009

On Saturday, 14 February, we celebrated Library Lovers’ Day; a time for people to celebrate the place of libraries in their lives. Our users are devoted to “their” public library and not just on one day of the year. Millions of library lovers across Australia must be right! Public libraries are at the heart of their communities and they have their communities at heart.

At no time has this been more universally evident than in the response of our colleagues across Australia to the tragic fire storms that have swept through Victoria in recent times. The e-lists are all focussing on ways in which libraries and librarians are contributing to the relief effort and ALIA’s Executive Director, Sue Hutley has highlighted some examples on the ALIA Board Blog  

Last Thursday’s  7.30 Report on the ABC featured Yea’s Librarian, Jan Smith, assisting with the relief effort. To quote Jan “Everybody’s absoluteley really wanting to help, so yes, it’s good involvement”. It was no surprise to see a librarian involved, it was just a matter of when. Way to go Jan!

Similarly, following a tragic, multiple shooting in the NSW country town of Cowra last year, the Library mounted a grief display which included one of the hand-knitted trauma bears offered to children by the Red Cross. Subsequently the library became the drop off point for trauma bears and a knitting group was established to support the community and aid organisations.

This connection to our communities, and our adaptation to their needs and changing circumstances is the foundation on which public libraries rest. In the lead up to the Summit it is appropriate to reflect on the events of the last 2 weeks, and how public libraries have responded to them.

Jan Richards, ALIA Vice President.

jan.richards@alia.org.au

Tags: ,
Posted in Library Lovers' Day | No Comments »

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »